Alrighty guys and gals, you have discussed it, argued it, and down right demanded it, but the truth of the matter is...if you build it they will come!!
My intention of this thread is as follows:
"To get a concise and heartfelt feel for what nurses would like to see from a medical show based around Nursing"
Let's face it, television is fictional characters, laid out to imitate real life. However, as we have all agreed nurses tend to be a very incorrectly portrayed profession in most medical dramas.
So let's tell the television studios what we want!!
The Rules:
1. Please post your ideas on what you, as a nurse, would like to see on your primetime tv. How do you want to be represented.
2. Please don't bash each others ideas, feel free to agree and disagree by giving "thanks" to those ideas you really like, and clarifying those you don't, but keep it professional. Pending this thread gets big enough I would love to give a direct link to a few select channels, primarily Bravo and HBO/Showtime as I feel they have some great drama writers.
3. Keep it within topic, we have wonderful moderators (honestly some of the best on any forum I read) and I know they will help keep this on topic.
4. Have fun with this, and be concise, think about what is entertaining, heart breaking, and perceptive about nursing and how that would translate to the world of media.
5. Feel free to just post "yes I would love to or no I would not like to see" a show about nursing.
Specializes in med-surg 5 years geriatrics 12 years.
And show the frustration of staffing issues compounded with families that want everything now mixed with the nurse's frustration at being pulled many ways at the same time. And how we feel at the end of a shift when we know we didn't give the kind of care we wanted to give and the patients deserve.
This might work for a documentary . .. . but tv time IS for vegging out and I'm not sure people would come back week after week to see the real life of a real nurse. And all the "P's".
My first thought though was to take all of Echo Heron's books, from nursing school on to when she retired from nursing (due to all the negatives things about nursing) would be good. Although Echo went to school when taking the boards meant 2-3 days and pencil and paper.
(I just remembered though - Echo did have a younger boyfriend and they had sex:eek:).
Oh man, I wish there was a show like this. I like another poster's comment on how it could be like "Cops." I don't really know how they'd get around HIPPA, but it would be awesome.
It wouldn't be that hard. Shows like "Trauma:Life in the ER" do it just fine. All that needs to be involved is a signed waver.
I love the idea! I often watch the 'doctor' shows and wonder why they don't offer a GOOD show that focuses on nursing and nurses.
The Discovery Health channel always has 'as told by the doctor's that...' but I would love to see any show that has what real nursing life is like. :bowingpur :tbsk:
I think True Life I'm a... would be great, but it would also be great if we had a series that covered (as other posters have mentioned) all the specialities and included 'support' staff.
I'm not yet a nurse, but I know that many/most CNA's work their butts off and that people really don't realize how much work they do. :anpom:
So, how do we really get this off the 'blog' and onto television??? :thnkg:
I think that a couple of those Ps don't need as much focus as other things. I seem to get the jokes about bedpans and stuff like that because so many people assume that's all nurses do. I know it can be part of the job, but it's not the main part. I don't think any nurse went to school for 2 or 4 years just to learn how to change a person.
When you work the noc shift and you've got a bunch of c-diff iso patients and the rest are incontinent and NO tech EVER although you're lucky if you can get one floated to sit with the occasional 1:1 patient you have , it most certainly is a main part of the job... no joke about it. I agree we didn't go to school for 2-4 years to learn how to change a person but that doesn't mean that we don't do it A LOT.
If a lot of people think that's all nurses do and it's a joke, I can't help that. I do know it's a big part of what I do (along with my assessments/(IV)meds/documentation/stocking/helping my fellow nurses answer lights/entering orders/checking orders/chart checking/ensuring staffing for day shift/chart auditing/completing CBLs... ... ... and it's no joke to me, it's just my job.
It might not be as important to show what nurses DO do ("doodoo", heh!) as showing what nurses CAN do. I know when I speak at career days, students are always amazed that nurses, not doctors, do hands-on defibrillation, start IVs and the like.
If a show like this became a reality it would be important to show real nurses in real situations, but also to see it as a recruitment tool. The general public doesn't know all the exiting stuff we do. (How many know that there are NURSES on helicoptors?) It would be a TV show and it would have to be entertaining... too much "reality" would kill ratings and the show.
I think the education slant would be interesting for the first season or two. Anyone but me remember "The Paper Chase?" (I had a professor that put Houseman to shame, I tell you...)
If they want reality vs entertainment, let's call the show Press Gainey Strikes Again and it can star anybody who's a licensed nurse not currently working in management.
When you work the noc shift and you've got a bunch of c-diff iso patients and the rest are incontinent and NO tech EVER although you're lucky if you can get one floated to sit with the occasional 1:1 patient you have , it most certainly is a main part of the job... no joke about it. I agree we didn't go to school for 2-4 years to learn how to change a person but that doesn't mean that we don't do it A LOT.
If a lot of people think that's all nurses do and it's a joke, I can't help that. I do know it's a big part of what I do (along with my assessments/(IV)meds/documentation/stocking/helping my fellow nurses answer lights/entering orders/checking orders/chart checking/ensuring staffing for day shift/chart auditing/completing CBLs... ... ... and it's no joke to me, it's just my job.
:wink2:
I totally understand what you're saying, but I always get the feeling that people don't realize how smart nurses are. Then if a person knows you're a really smart person, they say, "why don't/didn't you go to medical school to become a doctor?" I HATE that... I just want people to see that we do have brains in our heads.
I lke the idea of a one-hour weekly show. LOVE the "real RN/LPN, not actors":yeah: Have a COPS-like format, all specialties, all shifts. And yes, some realistic portrayal of all the ancillary people we NEED to help take care of the patients. It's also great to show nursing school/instructors, too.
And, for the final show stopper: How about a NETWORK dedicated to showing the true side of nursing? We have a food network, travel network, several music networks, why not a NURSING network????
Specializes in Acute Care Cardiac, Education, Prof Practice.
I lke the idea of a one-hour weekly show. LOVE the "real RN/LPN, not actors":yeah: Have a COPS-like format, all specialties, all shifts. And yes, some realistic portrayal of all the ancillary people we NEED to help take care of the patients. It's also great to show nursing school/instructors, too.
And, for the final show stopper: How about a NETWORK dedicated to showing the true side of nursing? We have a food network, travel network, several music networks, why not a NURSING network????
But the HIPPA show would be a blue screen!! :chuckle
But the HIPPA show would be a blue screen!! :chuckle
I don't see why. Just get people to sign waivers. I mean some people show their behinds and more plus air their dirty laundry on Jerry Springer for their 15 minutes.
I often watch the 'doctor' shows and wonder why they don't offer a GOOD show that focuses on nursing and nurses. 
:bowingpur :tbsk:
husker_rn, RN
417 Posts
And show the frustration of staffing issues compounded with families that want everything now mixed with the nurse's frustration at being pulled many ways at the same time. And how we feel at the end of a shift when we know we didn't give the kind of care we wanted to give and the patients deserve.